A few days ago, there was a link to a video interview in italian with PJ as he was promoting The Lovely Bones. In this interview, he mentioned that he was feeling sad, that he would not be able to direct the Hobbit films, and this was more prominent as the script progressed.

Could the delay be that he's trying to clear up his calendar and take back the reigns? The only reason i bring this up, is because Peter was always very clear that he did not want to do it, he didn't want to compete with himself - trying to best the amazing trilogy. And he wanted to se another directors vision of middle earth. This would facilitate at least some of his wishes. However what he says in the italian interview, kinda puzzles me as it seems like a turn in PJ's opinion, and it seemed very honest, as if he almost forgot it was a interview...

It's weird that nobody brought it up when it was first published on the web...